Resident of city near Jerusalem finds 'Occupied Palestinian Territory' listed under state of residence on his temporary French passport; FM to demand French gov't to revise wording

Yair Altman |Published: 09.11.11 , 23:57

A 21-year-old resident of Ma'ale Adumim who also holds a French citizenship was surprised to find "Occupied Palestinian Territory" listed under the state of residence on his temporary French passport recently.

Eddy, who was born in Israel
to French immigrants, applied for a French passport intending to go study there. He completed the paperwork and was issued a temporary travel document. On his way home from the consulate in Jerusalem, he noticed something strange.

"It's infuriating," he added. "I wanted to go back there and tell them I don't need their passport. I knew that the French were anti-Semitic, and I wouldn't have been surprised if they wrote 'Ma'ale Adumim, Palestine,' but they chose the harsh wording of 'Occupied Palestine.'"

Ynet has learned that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
intends to send the French government a harsh letter of protest, demanding it to remove the label.

Eddy, on his part, vowed to fight for the right to have "Israel" printed in his passport.

"I would have let it go if I lived in an outpost, but Ma'ale Adumim is the biggest city in Judea and Samaria, it's located at the heart of the consensus, and it will remain within Israel's territory as part of any future arrangement," he said.

Ma'ale Adumim (Photo: Lowshot)

The settlement's mayor, Boris Grossman, was just as exasperated.

"The territory was not seized from Palestine because there is no such entity," he said. "This is an Israeli and Jewish city whose origins are mentioned in the bible and its land does not belong to Arabs. It's a pity to see a nation that calls itself a friend of Israel supporting the Palestinians and the rhetoric that that harms any chance of a peace process."

MK Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beiteinu)
said the label used an "unfortunate" choice of words.

"Ma'ale Adumim is an inseparable part of the State of Israel," she said.

Shemtov noted that she has received reports of the same wording printed on documents issued to residents of east Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, and called on the French government to strike the statement from all official paperwork.